Dianmu (), also known as Leizi, is the Chinese goddess of lightning, who is said to have used flashing mirrors to send bolts of lightning across the sky. She is married to

Leigong Leigong () or Leishen (), is the god of thunder in Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology and Taoism. In Taoism, when so ordered by heaven, Leigong punishes both earthly mortals guilty of secret crimes and evil spirits who have used their kno ...

, the god of thunder. She is one of the gods who work together to produce the phenomena of thunder. Other companions are Yun Tong (), who whips up clouds, and Yu Shi ("Rain Master") who causes downpours by dipping his sword into a pot. Roaring winds rush forth from a type of goatskin bag manipulated by Fengbo ("Earl of Wind/Wind Uncle"), who was later transformed into Feng Po Po ("Old Lady Wind").

Legend

Dianmu was once a human, who lived with her mother. One day, she was dumping rice husks, because they were too hard for her mother to eat. When the short-tempered thunder god

saw her dumping the husks out, he thought she was wasting food, so he killed her. When the

Jade Emperor In the Chinese mythology, myths and Chinese folk religion, folk religion of Chinese culture, the Jade Emperor or Yudi is one of the representations of the Primordial Divinity (Tai Di), primordial god. In Taoist theology, he is the assistant of ...

found out, he was infuriated at Leigong's careless murder. The Jade Emperor revived Dianmu, making her a goddess. Dianmu was made to marry Leigong, who took on the responsibility of caring for her. Dianmu's job is now to work with Lei Gong. She uses mirrors to shine light on the Earth, so Leigong can see who he hits and makes sure they aren't innocent. This is why lightning comes before thunder.

In other depictions

Dianmu also appears in

Wu Cheng'en Wu Cheng'en (, c. 1500–1582Shi Changyu (1999). "Introduction." in trans. W.J.F. Jenner, ''Journey to the West'', volume 1. Seventh Edition. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. pp. 1–22. or 1505–1580), courtesy name Ruzhong (), was a Chines ...

's late 16th-century novel, the ''

Journey to the West ''Journey to the West'' () is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the Classic Chinese Novels, great Chinese novels, and has been described as arguably the ...

''; she appears during the events of the ''Slow Cart'' Kingdom (), where three 'Animal Strength/Power Immortals', "Tiger Strength", "Deer/Elk Strength" and "Goat/Antelope Strength", three demons who disguised themselves as Taoist magicians to deceive the King of the Kingdom of Chechi, by means of having ended a seemingly-endless drought through the means of a legitimate magic tablet that can control the weather by summoning gods in control of various aspects of the weather, including Dianmu, accompanied by . Once Sun Wukong interrupts the summons, Dianmu and her fellow weather deities help the Buddhists instead of the demons in their rain-making competition.

Storms

The following have been named after her: * Typhoon Dianmu (T0406, 09W, Helen) – struck Japan. * Severe Tropical Storm Dianmu (2010) (T1004, 05W, Ester) * Tropical Storm Dianmu (2016) (T1608, 11W) – struck Indochina * Tropical Storm Dianmu (2021) (T2115, 21W)

References

{{Reflist Chinese goddesses Thunder goddesses Sky and weather goddesses